Bulgarian finance ministry officials held talks on Friday with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund on the chances of recapitalising the fourth-largest Bulgarian bank, CCB, which is on the brink of collapse.
Finance Minister Petar Chobanov and the head of Oman’s fund Abdul Salam Al-Murshidi confirmed in a phone call “their readiness to find a working solution for the bank,” Chobanov’s office said in a statement. The Omani fund owns 30 percent of the Corporate Commercial Bank, which was shut on June 20 after media reports of alleged fraud sparked a three-day run on the bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

An Omani sovereign wealth fund and other shareholders in Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank are seeking to stabilise the troubled lender and hope a feasible plan will be put together within three months, a fund source told Reuters on Sunday.
Bulgarian Finance Minister Petar Chobanov spoke to the head of Oman’s State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) last week about the prospect of it helping out after a planned state bailout of the bank ran into opposition in Bulgaria’s parliament………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Bulgaria’s finance minister spoke to the head of Oman’s sovereign wealth fund on Friday about help for Corporate Commercial Bank and said the government now hoped to engineer a private rescue rather than a state bailout of the failing bank.
Corpbank, was forced into the control of Bulgaria’s central bank in June after depositors unnerved by reports of shady deals by the bank’s main owner withdrew more than a fifth of its total deposits. A subsequent audit showed activities at the bank “incompatible with the law and good banking practices” according to the central bank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of US$423.45 billion in Taiwan in June and also set a new high of US$7.47 trillion in Asia. Seventy percent of the increase in foreign exchange reserves in 2013 were seen in Asia. The government, therefore, has to seriously consider measures to manage Taiwan’s huge foreign exchange reserves. We have previously suggested setting aside a part of the country’s foreign exchange reserves to establish a sovereign wealth fund.
Currently there are more than 30 countries, including Singapore, Kuwait, Brunei, Norway and the United Arab Emirates, that have set up such funds with total combined assets of US$6.321 trillion. Although Taiwan has not set up such a fund, it has one in practice. The central bank has made good use of its foreign exchange reserves in recent years, contributing about NT$200 billion a year to national coffers, helping cover fiscal deficits………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Not so long ago, a third-party investment manager handling government funds caused heavy losses for Taiwan’s Labor Pension and Labor Insurance funds. Now another market trader is suspected of speculating on shares with board members of an over-the-counter listed company, causing the pension fund to lose more than NT$60 million (US$2 million).
Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford has suggested setting up a “Taiwan sovereign fund,” but nothing more has been done about it. If fund managers are inexpert and third-party traders keep mishandling the funds, establishing a sovereign fund could be a solution, since it could kill two birds with one stone by averting rogue trading and improving investment performance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) is seeking for the insurer and the cleaner for its skyscraper in Baku. The Fund informs that two tender procedures have been announced for this purpose. Both tenders relate to the new SOFAZ administrative building at add: 111A, Heydar Aliyev Avenue, Baku (22 administrative floors, 2 technical floors and underground parking with total area of 35,834 sq m).
The selected insurer should ensure voluntary insurance of administrative complex’s real estate and mandatory liability insurance of its operation. Bids accompanied by a bank guarantee for 1% of the requested value will be accepted till 6 pm on 1 September. The tender will be held on 2 September at 11 am in the Fund’s current residence at 24, Neftchilar Avenue………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The government fund that owns a majority stake in Malaysia Airlines is increasingly leaning toward taking the company private, after the carrier lost a second plane in five months, according to people familiar with the matter.
Khazanah Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state investment fund and holder of a 69% stake in flag-carrier operator Malaysian Airline System Bhd., had already been considering a purchase of the rest of the company, along with other restructuring proposals, even before a full flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine on Thursday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A delegation of Japanese businessmen led by head of the Shimada Sonjuku company and President of Chiba University of Commerce Haruo Shimada has visited the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan Republic (SOFAZ), AzerTag reports.
Shahmar Movsumov, executive director of SOFAZ, gave an insight into the activity of the organization, management of its assets, investments, major projects financed by the fund………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Andrew Rozanov resigned Wednesday as managing director and head of sovereign advisory in the London office of Permal Group, said Alastair Crabbe, a company spokesman, in an e-mail. Rozanov will not be replaced by the hedge funds-of-funds manager, which manages $22 billion.
“We have made good progress with our sovereign wealth fund business in the four years that Andrew has been with us,” Crabbe wrote. Rozanov could not be reached for comment about his future plans, but Crabbe said he understands that Mr. Rozanov will focus on research projects in the near-term future………………………………………..Full Article: Source